Professional Development Plan

Skills, strategies and attributes needed to enhance capability as a teacher

Standard 1 Develop further knowledge of strategies for teaching students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and
socioeconomic backgrounds.
Learn more about the characteristics and social, physical and intellectual development of children.

These areas are listed for professional learning so that all sub-standards of this standard can be supported with quality
evidence and be met with high quality capabilities. It is within these areas that I have identified that I have a lack of
understanding and strategies for and that this needs to be rectified in order to enhance my capabilities as a teacher

Standard 2 Expand knowledge of strategies for teaching literacy and numeracy.
Expand knowledge of strategies for teaching Indigenous perspectives.

Whilst I have already undertaken study for literacy and numeracy, I felt that I did not demonstrate this sub-standard to a
high enough quality to provide evidence to support it and I would like to further my understanding to enhance my
capability.
Teaching Indigenous perspectives is an important aspect to include in practice, however, it is also a subject that needs to
be approached with care so that no disrespect or incorrect information is delivered, and this is why I would like to
continue building strategies for this teaching area.

Standard 3 Expand knowledge of teaching strategies.
Learn of new teaching and ICT resources.
Develop further knowledge of communicative parental engagement strategies.

ICT is also expanding and updating, therefore I think it is important to maintain ongoing learning so that I am kept up-to-
date of new ICT resources that can be used to extend learning experiences. New teaching resources and strategies are
also regularly developed, thus to have a wide range of effective strategies and resources that support learning, ongoing
learning needs to take place.
Whilst I have displayed some strategies for parental engagement in the educative process, I believe that having a more
diverse range of strategies to draw on would increase the effectiveness of the engagement.

Standard 4 Become certified in child protection to acquire the skills for reporting suspected child abuse or neglect.
Learn of new strategies for:
- Student safety
- Student participation
- Behaviour management

Detecting child abuse and neglect is an important skill for a teacher to have to ensure the wellbeing and the safety of
students. Certification of child protection is acquired through completion of the course.
Part of this development plan is to also show the ongoing professional learning to continue building professional
knowledge and improving practice. Therefore, I have included the plan to learn further strategies that create and
maintain supportive and safe learning environments. Safety and support for students are also integral components of
teacher responsibility, thus constant improvement of professional knowledge and practice is important to ensure quality.

Standard 5 Build up further knowledge of effective assessment strategies.
Learn more about assessment moderation to build a better understanding of how to use it effectively for consistent
and comparable judgements.
Develop a range of strategies for reporting to families and keeping reliable records of student achievement.

I have identified that I have a lack of knowledge and strategies for assessment moderation and reporting, which needs to
be rectified in order to enhance my capabilities as a teacher, help work towards meeting the requirements of moving to
full registration.
To ensure that the data that I collect provides enough quality information about the students learning as a means for
modification of teaching practice and as a tool for constructing feedback, I believe that need to build further knowledge
of assessment strategies.

Standard 7 Learn more about legislative, administrative and organisational policy requirements of teachers to gain a better
understanding of it.
Find ways to better demonstrate the application of professional ethics and responsibilities used within my
professional practice.
Further build upon knowledge for working effectively with parents/carers and communities.
Gain a deeper understanding of the roles community and networks have in regards to teacher practice through
further professional learning.

The first two dot points are listed for professional learning so that all sub-standards of this standard can be supported
with quality evidence and be met with high quality capabilities. It is within these areas that I have identified that I have a
lack of understanding and skills for and that this needs to be rectified in order to enhance my capabilities as a teacher
As mentioned above in standard 3, I believe that I need a more diverse range of strategies to draw on to increase the
effectiveness of engagement with parents/carers, as well as, to engage with the wider community and teaching
networks. These engagements with families and communities I identify as my weakness, therefore I hope to rectify that
with further professional learning and development.
Plan for ongoing
professional
learning
To address the areas that require further or ongoing professional learning the following actions will take place within a
particular period of time.
Actions that will be completed by the end of the year
Undertake university courses
The university courses catering for diversity in the classroom and mathematics: learning and teaching will increase my
skills and strategies for teaching effective mathematic learning and teaching students with diverse backgrounds and
abilities.
This professional learning development will be completed by December 2014.

Undertake the child protection course
As part of improving teaching capability in regards to student safety in the classroom I will undertake the child
protection course provided by the Brisbane Catholic Education. I would like to have completed this course before
moving into the workforce, however, the course is currently under review therefore the completion date for this plan is
undetermined at this point in time.

Attend professional workshop
The relief teaching workshop that Carmel Kuhr will be conducting will be valuable in providing knowledge about teaching
strategies and effective resources.
This learning development will commence at 8:45am on Sunday 22
nd
June 2014 and be completed by 1:30pm Sunday
22
nd
June 2014.

Actions that will continue over time to consistently improve teaching capabilities
Attend professional seminars or workshops
Select and attend various seminars or workshops that develop the professional learning of about assessment
moderation, behaviour management, student safety and teaching Indigenous perspectives.
The completion of these actions is undetermined due to the selection criteria and the availability of such workshops
and/or seminars.

Research and read relevant and up-to-date literature
Using library databases to search for books, reviewed journal articles, or eBooks that discuss the identified areas of
learning improvement in all of the listed standards above. Research can also be conducted through some websites;
however the credibility of the site must be checked first to ensure that it is a reliable source of information. This plan
enhances theoretical and practical knowledge of the improvement learning areas.
This action is continuous, as it is a source that can consistently improve teaching capabilities.

Utilise professional group blogs or websites
Particular websites or blogs are created or sourced by other professionals, for example Scootle is a website designed to
provide teaching strategies and resources which other professionals use and provide feedback to determine its
effectiveness within an adjacent blog. Using these types of group websites help to build up a range of content and
concept knowledge, strategies and resources, hence why it is included in the action plan.
This is a source that will grow and develop as technology advances and always be a place to build new professional
learning.

Communicate with schools and other teachers
Communicate with experienced professionals to develop and collect new ideas and strategies for my teaching practice.
This is a continuing relationship that can be used over a long period of time for new professional learning rather than just
what is identified here, meaning that the planned actions may be completed within a short period of time, but the
source of learning can used in future professional development plans.

Networks for
professional
support
A number of networks effectively provide professional support to assist your ongoing professional development journey.
Queensland College of Teachers (QCT)
Provides information based on issues and relevant research that have implications on teaching. The literature in
particular is the Queensland College of Teachers research digest as it discusses a broad range issues in regards to all
areas of education from curriculum content to particular strategies, and what this means for teachers and teaching
(Queensland College of Teachers, 2014). This particular article style literature helps to keep me up-to-date on the new
issues circulating the education system and supports in building my knowledge about the effectiveness of particular
strategies, resources and content.
Cybersmart
This company provides various tools, resources, information and education that help to better equip teachers with
effective knowledge, safety strategies and lesson content in regards to ICT (Cybersmart, 2014). Having already attended
their pre-service teacher presentation they have already supported in better developing my understanding of the
teaching content of cybersafety. However, their website offers further resources and strategies that I can utilise that can
help me to enhance my knowledge and improve in the teaching areas that I have identified above.

Scootle
Scootle is an online blog that hundreds of teachers use to share and discuss various resources and lesson ideas
(Education Services Australia, 2014). This is an effective supporting network for building content ideas and extending
access to various resources for teaching both ICT and hands-on learning. The ways that I will be using this support is to
help build upon my repertoire of resources and further my knowledge of teaching strategies as I have identified above.

Independent Education Union
This union is one in which I am registered, they support me by offering professional development seminars and
workshops that are useful for a graduate level teacher to attend. I plan to utilise their offers now that I have identified
areas that I need to improve and build on, I can select particular seminars or workshops that will suit to improve the
areas which have been identified above and help me move to full registration.


Education Queensland
Provides a hub of information regarding professional development in a multitude of education areas(Queensland
Government, 2014). I aim to use this network to find useful and relevant sites, other supporting networks and literature
to support my professional development.

Past practical experience schools and mentor teachers
I still maintain contact with my past practical experience teachers/schools and I believe that they are an effective support
network as they are more willing to assist in sharing their knowledge, strategies and resources. This is a support network
that I utilise already when I have any inquiries related to teaching knowledge or practice and will continue to use to help
improve my capabilities as teacher through this mentoring system.

Australian Catholic University
Offers educational courses that are accredited to preparing under-graduates for the teaching profession. I have one last
semester of study in which I will develop further and new knowledge, skills and strategies to enhance my teaching
capabilities.

Carmel Kuhr
Presenting the relief teaching workshop. I believe that the relief teaching workshop would provide a wide range of
resources and strategies for keeping students engaged due to the fact that often relief teachers do not have the time
built relationships with the students as a permanent classroom teacher would, they require a diverse range of strategies
to apply to a varying range of students and environments to maintain their participation.
I would use this workshop to increase my knowledge of different teaching strategies and expand my repertoire of
resources. This ensures that my teaching knowledge and practice is always expanding and improving.

Brisbane Catholic Education
This network offers the child protection course (Catholic Education archdiocese of Brisbane, 2014). This course with
support the improvement of my teaching capability to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all students within the
classroom.